The Cosy Corner

The Cosy Corner

Gay bar / Brothel

Described by Happy In Berlin?, a repository for English writer's experiences of 1920s Berlin, as a "shabby gay bar in the working class district of Kreuzberg", the Cosy Corner was a frequent meeting place for downtrodden revolutionaries. However, it was also frequented by more privileged individuals, looking for cheap escapism by way of the underpaid male prostitutes working there. These figures included writers W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood - the latter of whom would go on to fictionalize the Cosy Corner as the 'Alexander Casino' in his magnum opus, Goodbye to Berlin. Isherwood would later retract his endorsement of this particular brand of hedonism, referring to his frequent use of the Cosy Corner's prostitutes - and his benefiting from impoverished Berlin queers as a whole - as a 'colonial situation'.

Valerie Tumbleson

“The Cosy Corner.” Happy in Berlin?, happy-in-berlin.org/the-cosy-corner/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

“Gay Berlin Institutions.” Queer Berlin Landkarte, www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/weitergeben/wp-content/uploads/sites/1016/2023/03/Gay-Berlin-Institutions-Sample-.docx&ved=2ahUKEwj5kLn0g-OLAxXjpIkEHcSYBYYQFnoECCEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw01a57IA45zFjH5dqAfemCy.

Isherwood, Christopher. Goodbye to Berlin. Vintage Books, 2022.

Institution

Kreuzberg, Weimar Berlin, Germany

1927-1932